Labor Day Fun

It's no secret that Labor Day is my favorite holiday. I like Labor Day most because nobody else claims it as their favorite holiday, but I also enjoy the Onion Days festivities. Even though it rained on my parade (literally) this year, I still throughly enjoyed the holiday. Check it out!

I really did think the rain would pass, but it didn't. Apparently, my "faith" isn't strong enough to keep the rain away. About 10 minutes into the parade, it poured!

Before the rain storm. When the parade started the CMan kept turning around and saying, "You've got to check this out! The parade is coming!" He was very excited.

During the rain.

Mom's umbrella had some problems.

After I was soaked to my knees and couldn't feel my fingers anymore, we headed home to wait out the storm. I got a little bored and took some self portraits.

This is NOT a flattering picture, but my dad laughed so hard at this one that I decided it needed to go up.

Proof that I am the Onion Princess!

Look, Barry Manilow came to visit again!

Later in the afternoon, the rain cleared and we headed back to the park for some entertainment, booth perusing, and carnie rides. FYI - do not let your brother talk you into riding the Orbitor. Humans were not meant to spin upside down!

The CMan decided he didn't want to sit by us. And he didn't want me to take his picture.

Mr. Mster did not disappoint in his cuteness!

By this point it was getting kind of chilly and it had been a long day, so we called it quits and headed home.

And that how I spent my Labor Day.

A Favorite Quote

One of my favorite quotes:

"When words cannot provide the solace we need or express the joy we feel, when it is simply futile to attempt to explain that which is unexplainable, when logic and reason cannot yield adequate understanding about the injustices and inequities of life, when mortal experience and evaluation are insufficient to produce a desired outcome, and when it seems that perhaps we are so totally alone, truly we are blessed by the tender mercies of the Lord and made mighty even unto the power of deliverance."

--David Bednar, 2005 April General Conference

Dedication: To the One I Love

You've never let me down. When I've been sad, you've lifted my spirits. You came and you gave without taking, even when I sent you away. When I needed to escape to another place, you were there telling me about New England. You don't mind when I wear a dress cut down to there or a yellow feather in my hair. Your only downfall is when you call me "Mandy" but I know that's just a pet name.

You're my one and only true love.

This is our first picture together. We enjoyed a lovely time at the band concert...even though he was a bit too shy to sing along (didn't want to hurt the girl at the microphone's feelings. He's so considerate like that.)

Love you forever!

Work Series Part 3: How I Keep Entertained

Anyone who works in an office knows the importance of keeping yourself entertained during the day. Eight hours (or 12 hours as my day turned out to be yesterday) is a very long time to stare at a computer screen.

For your viewing pleasure, here are some of the ways I keep myself entertained at work.

My stick:

I love this stick. I used to have a really long stick, but Alex (the warehouse guy) took it away from me because he said I was acting irresponsibly. OK, so maybe once I accidently poked SuperDaysh in the head with the stick, but I don't think that's grounds for taking my stick away. I pleaded to get my stick back, so Alex gave in and let me have a smaller stick. Well, I certainly wasn't satisfied with that...so I taped pens to the end. And now it is long and really, really sturdy!

Sometimes, I just wave my stick around for fun. Other times, the stick finds it's way over to SuperDaysh's side of the cubicle. But mostly, I just walk around with the stick and every once in awhile shout out, "Hi-ya!" while doing a Tae-Bo move.

Yesterday, I found a new way to use the stick...golf. Here I am golfing at the trash balls SuperDaysh threw over the cubicle wall at me.

We tried playing baseball with the trash balls, but golf worked much better.

I have to hide my stick now for fear that it will get taken away again.

Puppet shows:

For one reason or another, our office is often filled with kids. Elaine brought in some toys for the kids to play with while they wait for their moms to get out of meetings. I have made friends with the elephant puppet.

Here he is being nice and polite.

And this is Mr. Elephant being a rebel.

Fun with bubble wrap:

As evidenced by the previous post, we play with a lot of bubble wrap in our office. One day, SuperDaysh was really cold because of the air conditioning. Well, I did what any good office mate would do and I wrapped her in bubble wrap to keep warm. And keep warm she did.

And sometimes, to let out some pent-up frustrations, we put on the bubble wrap boxing gloves and "punch" things. We even played bloody knuckles one day and it didn't even hurt.

Locking the "office":

Jerry said he doesn't trust us anymore since the rampant display of practical jokes. He locks his door now when he leaves his office. (By the way, I don't know why he doesn't trust us...I was the one receiving all the practical jokes!) SuperDaysh decided she wanted to lock her "office."

See, you can't get in without a key! The doors are locked! (SuperDaysh, don't forget to get a spare made.)

Toys, lots and lots of toys:

Jerry's office is full of all kinds of fancy toys. This is one of the toys that I like to play with.

I like to watch the big bubbles coming up.

Mr. IT Man:

SuperDaysh's computer has been having trouble all week. One of the things we've done to help keep her from going insane while her computer is being worked on is to bug Mr. IT Man.

Here he is contemplating SuperDaysh's computer issue.

And here he is "fixing" the computer.

(I took these pictures by standing on top of my desk and looking over the top of the cubicle wall. And I got Mr. IT Man's permission to post his picture.)

It's my belief that Mr. IT Man was breaking SuperDaysh's computer instead of fixing it so he could spend more time with the "cool kids."

Happy Meal Fun:

And the day wouldn't be complete without a little fun with the Happy Meal toys.

Panda and Mantis are big crowd pleasers.

But I especially enjoy the princess necklace.

Ooooo, it smells like roses.

That's not lipgloss, it's perfume! I learned this lesson the hard way.

Thank you SuperDaysh for being such a gracious model.

And that my friends completes the three-part office series. I hope you enjoyed the adventures!

Work Series Part 2: Practical Jokes in the Office

For some reason, my co-workers think it is fun to play practical jokes on me. SuperDaysh says it's because I'm "good humored." I think it's because I'm very entertaining. Let me take you on a little tour of some of the practical jokes that have been played on me recently (and by recently, I mean most of these were played on me today.)

Cell phone in the ceiling:
I work in a creative department, and yet, the most "creative" thing my co-workers could think of was to hide my cell phone in the ceiling when I left to go to the rest room. Come on guys, let's be original. Jim already played this joke on Andy.



This where I found my cell phone, after I kept hearing "Footloose, Footloose, kick off the Sunday shoes" going off over and over again.

Next, my stick came up missing. I will share more about my stick later, but let's just say that I wasn't too happy when my stick ended up in SuperDaysh's cabinet.

This is my awesome stick.



Then, I decided to go to lunch. And I came back to this.








Yes, that is bubble wrap.


All of these jokes happened today...before lunch.

This one, however, happened a couple of weeks ago. I came into the office early one morning and discovered that my computer was missing. This sticky note was on my desk.



The note says, "Hi. I am your new computer. Denzel needed a break. (He took a vacation, you should 2.)I found my computer a little later...in my drawer.

The last part of our series will be an entry about keeping myself entertained.

Work Series Part 1: We are Professionals

Some of you may wonder what it is that I do for a living. Well, you don't have to wonder any longer. The next few posts will be a three-part series of "MyLife at Work." To begin, let me introduce you to my co-workers.

All names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent.

We have SuperDaysh. She is a super hero and also the master mind behind all the practical jokes.

Isn't she lovely? I have no idea why she is upside down.

This is Elaine. When she isn't typing furiously at her keyboard, she likes to take a break to pop some bubble wrap. And she loves Coke.

Here's our faithful Art Director, hard at work as you can see.

Yes, that is New Moon that he is reading. And so far, Jerry is an Edward fan.

This is Jerry's can collection.

JT doesn't have time to play. He's too busy learning new code and singing songs.

And here's my boss.

What? You don't see anyone there? This is a typical scene for us at the office.

Next up: Practical Jokes in the Office

I'm It

So Lori, of That Sume fame, tagged me. I've got some great blog posts swirling around in my head, but for the moment, enjoy the tag.

How to play this game...post these rules on your blog: list 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself. Tag 5-6 people at the end of your post by leaving their names.

3 JOYS:
1. My nephews. Seriously, I have no idea how I ever survived without these boys in my life.

2. Reading. I love to read before I go to bed at night. I enjoy getting lost in a good story.

3. Random acts by other people. Like honking at me when driving by. Or wall posts on facebook. Or the piece of taffy my co-worker left on my desk today.

3 FEARS:
1. Spiders. Hate spiders.

2. Eggs drying up. I'm not going to explain this one, but those who know me best know what this means.

3. Being a failure. I hate when I don't measure up to my own standards.

3 GOALS:
1. To exercise more. I did really well at the beginning of the year, but once summer started I slacked. It just seems too hot to exercise.

2. Writing more for myself. I write all day long for work, but I miss writing for fun.

3. Finish all Jane Austen books. I'm almost there; just 2 more!

3 CURRENT OBSESSIONS/COLLECTIONS:
1. Facebook. I can't belive I've become a Facebook addict.

2. Looking a decorating blogs. I'm in a serious decorating mood.

3. Jane Austen. Because of the goal.

3 RANDOM SURPRISING FACTS ABOUT ME:
1. I went to Russia when I was 15 and some boys on our trip tried to sell me to some Russian boys...for 20 cents.

2. I once held Donny Osmond's hand.

3. I hate running. OK, not surprising, but it's random.

I tag...anyone who has blogger's block and needs something to get the creative juices flowing. Or anyone who wants to do a tag. Or anyone who needs a blog topic.